New York police reopen 45-year-old Barry Marquart homicide, seek man in sketch

A 45-year-old homicide case in Broome County has new life because of one old face: a composite sketch from 1980 that New York State Police say could still unlock what happened to Barry G. Marquart.

Investigators renewed their public appeal on April 14, 2026, asking for help identifying the man in the sketch, described as a white male who would have been in his 20s or 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing roughly 140 to 160 pounds. State police stressed that the man is not currently considered a suspect, but they believe he may have critical information about Marquart’s death. For a case this old, that distinction matters. Police are not just looking for a name from a yellowing file; they are trying to put a witness, or someone close to the scene, back into the timeline.

Marquart was 30 when his father reported him missing on November 9, 1980. He had been living in Binghamton with a roommate who had not seen him for two days. His vehicle was later found at the old Exit 5 rest area off Interstate 81 in the town of Dickinson, and his body was recovered from the Chenango River about 500 feet behind that rest stop. Investigators also found his wallet later in Otsiningo Park, while his watch was missing. That spread of locations is part of what has kept the case so unsettling for decades. The body, the car, the wallet and the missing watch never lined up neatly, and the scene leaves open the question of whether Marquart was attacked somewhere else before ending up near the river.

The autopsy, conducted on November 10, 1980, determined that Marquart died by drowning, but it also showed injuries consistent with blunt force trauma to the head and face. That combination gives the case its hardest edge: it points to a man who may have been assaulted before he went into the water, or at least struck hard enough to leave unmistakable marks.

State police said investigators have continued to actively renew evidence and pursue leads over the years, and earlier reporting showed the case was already being pushed for new information in 2021. The landscape has changed, too. The old rest area no longer exists, but the sketch has been revived for a different era, one where a face can circulate far beyond Broome County in minutes. Anyone with information is being asked to contact New York State Police at (607) 561-7400 and leave a message for Major Crimes.